by Sarah Bammel

Created on: March 04, 2011

Sail by James Patterson and Howard Roughan is not the most exciting book out there but it is still entertaining and keeps you turning pages.

First, Anne Dunne, is mother to three wonderful children and widow of the late Mr. Dunne. She is a cardiac surgeon and is very stressed and worried that her family is falling apart. So she gets Jake Dunne, brother of her late husband, and convinces him to sail The Family Dunne around on a family vacation to hopefully bring the family back together.

Jake Dunne has his doubts about the whole trip because his brother died while out in The Family Dunne, and it’s said that going out on a boat that someone died on is not good, that bad things will forever happen on that boat. It’s not long after they launch that things start going wrong. The middle child, Carrie, tries to commit suicide by jumping overboard and trying to drown herself, then a hose that takes water to cool the engine breaks and the boat begins to flood, after recovering from almost sinking they are caught in a horrible storm and the radio breaks. All of this doesn’t even compare to what happens next.

The Family Dunne explodes, and the family ends up coming together to try to survive. While reading all this we learn that these terrible things are happening because of Peter Carlyle, Anne Dunne’s current husband. He is trying to kill Anne Dunne and her children for the family money. If Anne dies but the children survive her, the money goes to the children, but if the children also die, the money is all his. He may be a well known, and rich attorney, but as his character says in the book, enough just isn’t enough he always wants more.

The book starts well with problem after problem attacking the family and the reader wonders what will happen next and how will the family ever make it home. Then the story seems to come to an abrupt halt. Peter Carlyle is put on trial for the attempted murder of his family and it is through the trial that we learn of the family’s rescue. The trial starts the story on it’s runaway ending, then before you know it the story is over. The beginning of the story is filled with twists and turns and the reader doesn’t know what to expect next. Then the ending is all expected, justice is served, and life goes on. This sudden ending leaves the reader kind of disappointed, and wishing for something a little better.

Overall, this book is a good time killer if you have a few hours to spare to work your way through the pages. The beginning of the book is good but before the trial, it may be wiser to put the book down as you can probably come up with a more exciting ending that this one.

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